Getting a flat in new affordable housing project in Beijing like winning a lottery

It's like a lucky draw. More than 140,000 families are lining up for only 2,000 flats on sale in Beijing's first "self-use commercial home" project along the southeastern part of the capital's fifth ring road - about half an hour's drive to the nearest central business district.

What worries applicants is not the commute - it's the slim odds on winning the right to buy. "I know the hope is very small. I still want to try my luck," said Zheng Lin, a married man working in a finance company in Beijing.

Zheng, 29, is among the non-priority group, as he bought a 60 square metre flat last year, using up all his savings of the past decade. But he needs a larger home.

"What if my parents come to live with us, or we want to have a baby?" he said.

The long queue and strong demand from families like Zheng's are lending support to expectations that home prices in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai will keep rising despite a slowdown in the mainland's economic growth.

While home price inflation has eased to multi-month lows, it remains high in first-tier cities. Official figures released on Monday showed that prices rose 18.8 per cent year on year in Beijing last month and 20.9 per cent in Shanghai.

Ahead of Zheng are applicants who are permanent residents of Beijing without a flat and those already enrolled for a unit in other government-subsidised affordable housing. The project, called Royal Scenery, is part of a broad plan the municipality announced in October to check housing inflation and ease social discontent, at a time when most of the capital's middle-class families have been priced out of the market.